Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 315 Small meeting

The underground spaceship had many internal cavities, so finding a place to fit the Box of Elysium wouldn't be difficult. However, out of caution, Naruto decided to take this object, which he suspected was related to the Dark Universe, back to the only place in the world where they could understand it.

"Fuming, can you figure out what this is?" The spaceship's powerful AI is really useful. After bringing the object back, Naruto no longer needs to rack his brains to think of a way to describe it; Fuming will directly search for the correct answer from the huge database.

"This is a device specifically designed to imprison beings from the dark universe; its scientific name is the Dark Energy Suppressor."

Naruto was somewhat shocked that the spaceship could actually provide an answer, and asked, "Could this also be something from the spaceship?"

"The storage compartments were severely damaged during the spaceship's crash, with most of the contents lost. The dark energy suppressor has not been maintained for nearly ten thousand years, resulting in significant energy loss, and theoretically, it can no longer completely contain the life forms inside. Should we perform maintenance on the device?"

"Can it still be maintained? Of course it needs to be maintained. It would be best to lock this thing up so that no one can unlock it again."

"Error. The device's 'core lock' shows no signs of opening. The opening it exhibits is not 'opening' but rather drawing energy from the outside to maintain the operation of the 'core lock'."

That's an unexpected answer, but... does it seem like it appeared to absorb energy? Doesn't seem likely.

"But it just opened the box and released a monster called 'Jue', which locked many people inside the box."

“The ‘Source’ and ‘Darkness’ in the Soul Dimension can coexist in ways that defy the common sense of physics. Therefore, the erosion of this universe by beings from the Dark Universe began in the Soul Dimension. The ‘Awakening’ you mentioned was very likely born in the nearly ten thousand years since the device went out of service. It is composed of beings from this universe that have been eroded and can act as an intermediate converter between ‘Source’ and ‘Darkness’.”

"I suggest you immediately maintain the box and make sure to completely eliminate any creatures between the two layers of sealing. Their presence will allow the dark universe creatures imprisoned inside the device to grow, which is contrary to the original design of the device."

The long string of technical jargon was enough to make anyone's scalp tingle. Naruto hadn't fully grasped the underlying principles either, but he understood just how dangerous it was. Then, he realized another problem: "Wait, what you just said means... that I should be the one maintaining it?"

"You are a source-core life form, capable of autonomously separating and storing 'source'. This substance is extremely unstable, and currently there is no carrier other than the soul. The spaceship currently lacks a device for storing 'source'..."

No, he himself doesn't even know he's a so-called "Source Core Life Form," so how could this intelligence be so certain? Just because he heard the voice of the soul dimension? Besides, doesn't all of this boil down to using the concept of "Source"? But can he use it? No!

"Stop, stop. I understand what came before. Is there an alternative? One that doesn't require using a 'source'."

Fu Ming's reply was always swift and unhurried: "Theoretically speaking, using the 'Source' is the most efficient, but if you must use other methods, that's fine too. All matter and energy in this world are transformed from the 'Source.' As long as you can inject enough powerful energy, strong enough to affect the soul dimension and completely destroy the eroded soul inside, then the maintenance will be successful."

The Konoha leadership reacted differently to Naruto's opposition to bringing the Box of Paradise back. Tsunade, as Hokage, was more concerned with the village's safety; she certainly wouldn't choose to bring back a ticking time bomb. The advisors were already somewhat divided; Koharu and Homura supported Tsunade's decision, but they didn't support Naruto deciding where to hide the box. Danzo, however, stubbornly opposed the Hokage, even believing the Box's existence shouldn't be known to the other four nations and that all witnesses should be eliminated, ensuring this secret weapon remained Konoha forever.

Naruto just wanted to throw this guy into the scene of "Satori's" rampage, let him personally experience the oppressive power of that monster, and preferably have "Satori" take him away in one go, so as not to dirty his own people's hands.

"Do you think the intelligence agents of the other major nations are all dead?" Tsunade was also suppressing her urge to punch him into the basement. "Leaving aside the issue of the prisoners being ninjas from the five major nations, just consider the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki who was present at the time. Killing a Jinchuriki and then claiming it was the cause of a prison riot—how many Kage do you think would believe that? If you continue to propose such a suggestion that is entirely detrimental to Konoha, then I will have to consider whether you are worthy of the position of advisor."

This was the first time Tsunade had said such harsh words in an internal meeting, which shocked the group of old guys. Before Danzo could even tap his cane, Koharu Utatane was the first to get restless and sternly criticized, "Tsunade-hime, that's going too far! Danzo has been silently supporting the village all these years. Even if he hasn't done anything meritorious, he has certainly worked hard."

Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, Mitokado Homura immediately tried to smooth things over, saying, "You all know Tsuna's temper. The proposal just now was indeed a bit too much, and it's understandable that Tsuna is angry. Calm down, everyone, and let's resolve this matter quickly. It's not safe to leave such dangerous things in the wild."

This back-and-forth seemed to have glossed over the earlier incident, but anyone with a discerning eye could see it clearly. While the three advisors appeared to be at odds, they remained united when it came to matters of fundamental interest. Danzo, the party at odds, remained silent to avoid giving Tsunade any ammunition, while Koharu and Enma played good cop and bad cop, taking sides in the conversation and subtly portraying Tsunade's words as anger at hearing an excessive proposal.

A year or so ago, Tsunade wouldn't have clashed with them so directly, but now she was finding it hard to tolerate. The Fourth Hokage's team consisted entirely of ninjas who had experienced the Third Shinobi World War, each with a distinguished record. However, they were too young, and their path was blocked by many "veterans" who relied on their "seniority" but didn't do their jobs. After the Fifth Hokage took office, these obstacles were gradually cleared away, the Hokage's power grew stronger day by day, and they finally understood the situation in each department.

There are quite a few people in high positions who still work for the advisory group. Now is clearly not the time to break ties. It's just that Danzo crossed Tsunade's bottom line, which is why she couldn't bear it any longer and issued a warning.

"Xiao Gang is a bit too hasty."

"It's clearly your 'student' who's gone too far."

"...I have never taught it like that. Assassination and massacre are crooked and evil ways. Once exposed, they will severely damage the village's image and be detrimental to the village's development."

"Heh heh, then why don't you teach them?"

"...Would you believe me if I said I taught it?"

The Konoha Small Meeting is never short of listeners. Fortunately, Hashirama, who dotes on Tsunade the most, was not there. He was busy cleaning up the traces of Wood Release he left behind. Otherwise, I really can't imagine what his reaction would have been.

"My clone said that the box is dangerous and the real body needs to handle it," Naruto interjected midway through the meeting.

"Grandma Tsunade should be able to keep them under control, right? I don't want that thing to appear again."